Daylight Away From Ash
by PSImag14
Summary: AU; Brock unexpectedly disappears right after Dawn loses in the Grand Festival to Ursula. Dawn then betrays Ash, not taking responsibility for her screw up, and he becomes closer to Ursula. When the Indigo League reopens, Ash sees another chance to redeem himself.
1. Chapter 1

First story, inspired by AshxUrsula 4EVER's "I Want To Be There For You" (though that one isn't about betrayal).

**UPDATE: Changed the title, as it was already taken.**

XXX

Ash (13/14): Veronica Taylor

Ursula (11/12): Melissa Schoenburg

Dawn (11/12): Emily Jenness (Lisa Ortiz after Ash gets betrayed)

Brock (18): Eric Stuart (Bill Rogers after Ash gets betrayed)

XXX

Pain. Betrayal. Regret. Those were inner emotions commonly associated with the thirteen year old Ash Ketchum after his betrayal at the hands of the person he thought he could call a "friend".

It had started out like any other day. Dawn had been training for the Grand Festival, adding a few tweaks to her current contest techniques. And then...

_Dawn's Piplup and Mamoswine had fainted at the hands of Ursula's Flareon and Vaporeon. Both of them were down to just a few points, but Ursula had secured the victory after a missed Hydro Pump aimed at Flareon struck Vaporeon, replenishing its health. While it was still sparkling, Ursula had her combine her Acid Armor with Surf so that the result was a shining mermaid-shaped wave, with Vaporeon in the middle. That was enough to cost Dawn all of her points._

_Ursula had been bragging about it no more than five seconds after she was announced the winner and the Grand Festival trophy had been given to her. Dawn refused to cry, for she had grown past that. She still held deep resentment towards Ursula, and her declaring her past victories as flukes wasn't helping matters, either._

_"I beat you fair and square, I didn't luck out!" Dawn yelled, loud enough for the crowd to hear._

_"Of course you didn't, at least not this round. You're luck's run out." Ursula snickered._

_Since Brock was off trying to sweet-talk a girl, it was up to Ash to quell the situation. _

_"Hey, Ursula, congratulations!" he grinned, saying his words in rapid-fire succession. "Dawn, you did your best!"_

_"Thanks, but shouldn't you be training for the league?" Ursula inquired, not quite as snappy as she was with Dawn, before adding, "You wouldn't want to end up a loser like DeeDee, would you?" Some of the spectators laughed at this remark._

_"STOP CALLING ME DEEDEE!" Dawn cried indignantly, right after Ash shouted, "We're not losers!"_

_Some time later, Ash was battling in the Sinnoh League. He had taken on Conway, Nando, and even Paul, and now he was up against a mysterious trainer with a Darkrai. Dawn didn't exactly seem to believe he could win now that the Darkrai trainer was revealed, and Brock didn't have much of an opinion. What was really odd was that Ursula was there, cheering him on against Tobias. She was on the other side of the bleachers, so she was just another face to Brock and Dawn. He lost to Tobias, of course, but had managed to take down two of his Pokemon. It was quite the accomplishment, though Ash didn't feel particularly proud of it. He had just lost another league. Brock and Dawn looked mortified._

_Not long after Ash had healed his Pokemon, he had found Dawn standing in front of him. The next thing she said quickly turned this day into the worst day of his life._

_"Hey, Dawn. Where's Brock?" Ash asked a bit sadly._

_"Back at Pewter City. Ash, we need to talk," Dawn insisted. "After watching you lose, I've come to a conclusion: you're holding me back."_

_Ash laughed at her. "Good one! I thought you said I was holding you back!"_

_A slap in his face stopped his laughter. "I'm serious! I could have won the Grand Festival if you hadn't sidetracked me all the time! All of that training, and you still ended up losing another league!" The rest of her words after that were a blur to him. The slap hurt, but not as much as the betrayal. Ursula watched this all with a horrified look on her face._

_Since then, he had been training for a bit. He had explained the situation to his Pokemon. Pikachu and the Sinnoh Pokemon swore off Ice Aqua Jet, Counter Shield, etc.._

_The day before he headed back to Kanto, he saw a glimpse of a mysterious Pokemon in a bush. He immediately whipped out a Poke Ball and tossed it at the figure. Hey, it worked for him before, right? To his surprise, all that happened was that the Pokemon groaned lowly in pain as the Poke Ball merely bounced off._

_The Pokemon turned out to be a Sylveon, a Fairy Pokemon from a faraway region, Kalos._

_"Sorry, I don't just hand out my prized Pokemon to losers," Ursula taunted._

_The incident still fresh on his mind, he hung his head down. He knew she was just teasing, but it was still true. He had trained so much, and still ended up coming out a loser. Was Dawn-_

_"Hey, don't be so down. I have to say that taking on two legendary Pokemon is nothing to be ashamed of, and anyone who would betray you for that is an even bigger loser than any first round fodder," Ursula reassured him. "Okay if I come with you? I'm planning to take on Kanto contests next."_

_"Sure!" Ash answered._

_Months later, Ursula took the Kanto Grand Festival by storm with Ash by her side (Note: I don't like writing contests, so I'll skip it, along with other unimportant parts). Now all that was left was for Ash to take part in the upcoming Indigo League, and hopefully win this time..._

Back in the present, Ash was in his room, staring at his clothes. He first looked at his outfit he wore for the first two regions that he traveled to. His eyes then drifted to the one he wore in Hoenn, followed by the one he wore for his Sinnoh journeys. He looked at his Sinnoh outfit with contempt. He would probably never wear it again, even if he wanted to, the memories associated with it were too painful. Just to make sure they could be permanently forgotten, Pikachu tossed them out of the window and Thunderbolted them to a crisp. Next to the now empty slot was another outfit, one that he hadn't seen before. This one consisted of a red jacket with a white collar and sleeves, white shoes with two red stripes on each one, a dark t-shirt, and blue pants with a belt looped around it. His mom must have just made it for him. He tried it on with his original Indigo League hat. He came out of his room to see Ursula and his mom interacting.

"Sorry to interrupt, but how do I look?" he asked, doing his trademark two-finger pose with the Earth Badge.

"And you complained about me taking a long time to change," Ursula mock-scoffed.

"Let's just say it's little wonder you attract all the ladies!" Delia gushed.

Ash and Ursula recoiled in embarrassment. "It's NOT like that!" Ursula and Ash exclaimed.

"You two are already in sync with each other, too!" Delia went on.

The two of them groaned.

_A month later..._

"Ready, Pikachu?" Ash turned to his partner.

"Pika!"

"Ash, good luck!" cheered Ursula.

"Thanks! I'll be sure to give it all I've got!" replied Ash, as his first round was announced. It was Ash vs a trainer from Nuvema Town of the Unova region. Both of them stepped up to the battlefield to battle. Ash extended a hand out to the boy, who he learned was named Trip.

"Sorry, I don't shake hands from people of the boonies. I'm only here so I can win this hyped up tournament," Trip scoffed at him.

Ash didn't let his insult get to him as he took his place.


	2. Chapter 2

_One more note before I start this chapter: Cameron and Virgil don't exist._

XXX

"This two-on-two battle between Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town - " Ash swore he heard Trip "pfft" when the announcer said the name of his hometown. "- and Trip from Nuvema Town will now begin!"

Ash sent his Pokemon out first, "Bayleef, I choose you!" The middle-stage starter emerged from her ball. She ran towards Ash and slammed him to the ground, before nuzzling his face affectionately.

"Bayleef, I missed you, too, but we have a battle!" Ash lectured.

Trip laughed loudly at him as he snapped a picture of him with his camera. "You can't even control your own Pokemon? This might be the easiest battle yet! Conkeldurr, I need your help!" The brown ogre-like Pokemon materialized in front of its trainer, its two pillars being held in place with its hands.

Ash whipped out his Pokedex and scanned it. "NO DATA FOUND." _(Remember that he didn't go to Unova.)_

"You don't even know this Pokemon? This'll be a snap. Conkeldurr, Mach Punch!" It dug its pillars into the ground, retracted its large fist, and zoomed towards Bayleef with unexpected speed.

"Reflect!" commanded Ash, and a circular orange barrier appeared around the Grass-type, rendering the Mach Punch useless. As soon as it began to fade, Ash gave Bayleef another command. "Razor Leaf!"

It rotated its head and sent leaves at Conkeldurr, who jumped back to its original spot, using its pillars as a defense against the leaves.

"Grass Whistle, let's go!" Bayleef let the leaf on its head fall to its mouth as it whistled a lullaby on it

"No, Conkeldurr, don't listen to it!" Trip yelled, but it was too late as his Pokemon dozed off, its hands still on top of its pillars.

Ash smiled once Conkeldurr fully fell asleep. "Take them away with Vine Whip and use Solar Beam!"

Bayleef extended vines from its neck and gripped the pillars tightly. Since it couldn't hurl them away, it just slapped them on the ground. Then, it charged a ball of energy in its mouth, which was eventually unleashed as a beam of solar energy. It scored a direct hit on Conkeldurr, who was sent flying back a few inches. When the Solar Beam was finished, Conkeldurr was bruised... and still asleep.

Trip could only hopelessly try and wake it up as Bayleef hovered to Conkeldurr _(Before anyone says this is impossible, watch the Johto episode "Once in a Blue Moon".)_ using its leaf as a propeller and slapped its face multiple times, before ascending above it.

"Body Slam!" Bayleef was all too happy to oblige as it stopped rotating its leaf and slammed down on Conkeldurr with all its might. When she got off, Conkeldurr had already woken up, but it was unable to battle.

"Conkeldurr sure had a rude awakening! Go, Ash!" yelled a young boy in the bleachers next to Ursula.

The girl turned to him. "You know Ash?"

The boy's eyes lit up. "Do I? I traveled with him throughout Hoenn! It was awesome!" Ursula listened intently as he discussed their various adventures, including the time that Ash beat Norman, only to have the badge taken away.

Meanwhile, with Ash and Trip, the latter had sent out a large, overgrown lime green snake after both Bayleef and Conkeldurr were recalled. "You may have beat my Conkeldurr, but you'll never be able to beat my Serperior!"

_Get ready for **this**,_ Ash thought, before tossing another Poke Ball into the air. "Quick Attack, go!" A huge line of fire emerged from the ball, quickly zooming towards Serperior. Most of the audience tried to guess what Pokemon that was. A few people even guessed it was a Zoroark. Ursula laughed at that; he hadn't even been to Unova, so how would he have gotten a Zoroark?

Trip's jaw dropped. "Dodge it and use Solar Beam!"

His Serperior quickly slithered out of the way before charging up the attack, not unlike Bayleef earlier on.

"Flame Wheel!" The flaming line grew more circular and more large as the solar beam of energy headed towards it. To everyone's surprise, the wheel of fire split the beam in half. Trip's Serperior was speedy, but in the middle of an attack, it was helpless as whatever Pokemon Ash had went through the powerful Grass-type attack and struck it in its face, charring it all over its upper body.

"Finish it off with Flamethrower!" Still unrevealed, Ash's Pokemon unleashed a stream of flames that washed over its opponent, taking it down once and for all.

Ash congratulated his unknown Pokemon and recalled it as he was announced the winner. He didn't even bother sticking around for Trip's reaction, instead opting to go back to his seat in the bleachers. He perked up when he saw Ursula conversing with an old friend of his.

"Max! Nice to see ya again!" he called to him.

"Ash! That was - "

"Pathetic," another all-too familiar voice cut in. Without looking, he knew it was Paul.

"Who is this chump?" Max glared at the purple-haired boy indignantly.

Paul ignored him and faced Ash. "You should have been able to take him on easily. _I_ should have been the one to take on Tobias. But you know what? I've come to a conclusion. Infernape is your crutch."

"What is he talking about?" Ursula whispered to him.

"Don't play dumb. You saw his matches against Tobias and Trip, didn't you? Against Tobias, he could only manage to take down Darkrai and Latios - "

Max gasped. "Ash, you took down two legendary Pokemon? Why didn't you tell me? You have to show me a recording of it sometime!"

Paul went on, "And against Trip, your second Pokemon took down Serperior with ease, while Bayleef struggled with Conkeldurr and could have easily lost if it didn't put it to sleep, so I can only conclude that that mystery Pokemon was Infernape, and that you suck without it. You couldn't win a match without that Pokemon!"

"Wasn't it you that said it was too weak?" Ash retorted.

"Yes, and that hasn't changed," Paul answered. "Every dog has its day at some point."

"Of course! Don't worry, your day will come!" Ash replied back.

Paul's face contorted into one of anger, unable to think of a comeback. He settled for simply mumbling "I'll show you in the battlefield" and walking away. Max, Ursula, and a few others couldn't stop laughing.

Soon, Max was called to the field to battle a trainer from another faraway region. Max's Sceptile easily dispatched the opponent's Pokemon, which looked like some sort of ghostly sword with eyes. That was the last battle of the day, so everyone was dismissed. All of the ones who battled went to the Pokemon Center to heal their Pokemon.

"I'm going to need all of your Pokemon," Nurse Joy said to Ash.

"But my battle was two-on-two," Ash told her.

"The official league rules say that they need to be inspected interspersing each match, just in case of minor injuries that may not be noticeable by the average trainer, certain materials injected into it, and more," she reminded him.

"Oh, right!" Ash gave his Poke Balls and a sad Pikachu to the nurse, before sitting on the bench with Max and Ursula. At one point, Ash accidentally nudged Ursula, gaining an embarrassed reaction from her.

"S-Sorry ab - " Ash tried to apologize.

Luckily, Nurse Joy's loud voice boomed over the speakers, saving Ash from trying miserably to salvage the situation.

"Your Pokemon are all in good hands now and will be back in just a few minutes. In the later rounds, you'd better be prepared for a lot of trouble, and be ready to pay back your opponent double!" she chirped.

_I can think of one person I'd like to pay back..._ Ash thought, a bit confused.

"Hey, I gave you my Pokemon an hour ago! Where are they?!" a muscular man complained, cutting into Ash's thoughts. This immediately started a riot.

"Patience, young ones! They'll be there soon!" The pink-haired lady tried to calm them all down.

"Young one? I'm older than you by a country mile!" a bitter old man whined.

_Wait a minute, trouble, double? _Ash pointed to the spot where Nurse Joy formerly was. "It's Team Rocket!" He bolted up and jumped over the desk, chasing after the supposed Nurse Joy.

"Ash, wait up!" Max and Ursula called out at the same time, chasing after him. They ran through the hallways after Ash. There were doors on each side, and Max's eye caught a bound and gagged woman in the room to the right, and another one in the room on the opposite side. He stopped Ursula and showed her what he saw.

"Ash, we'll catch up with you later! We'll save the Nurse Joys!" Ursula shouted to him. As they each opened a door and entered a separate room, they shut off by themselves, having locked them in.

Max and Ursula went to the doors and pounded on them. "Let us out!"

Meanwhile, with Ash, he had already confronted the impostor Nurse Joy at a dead end. "Stop right there, Team Rocket!"

"'Stop right there!', a feeble cry indeed!" she mocked, in a more dominating voice.

"The answer to come - " Another figure, in a Nurse Joy outfit that was less convincing as a disguise, mostly due to the blue hair and more manly structure, dropped down from the ceiling and next to the better imitation Nurse Joy. "When...we feel the need!"

"Bringing the blinding white light of chaos into the future!"

"Thrusting the hammer of justice down onto the black darkness of the universe!"

"And carving our names into the rock of eternity!" a bipedal cat-like Pokemon hopped down from the ceiling as well, landing on all fours.

"The fiery destroyer, I'm Jessie!"

"With thunderous emotion, I'm James!"

"I'm the wisest of the wise, Meowth!" Meowth pressed a button on a remote, and the floor beneath Ash opened up. He had to grab on to the edge so that he wouldn't fall in.

"Now gather under the name of Team Rocket!"

The three of them flew out of an open window using their jetpacks, leaving Ash to try and get back on solid ground.

"I won't get them get away..." he groaned, as he managed to hurl himself up. He then jumped out of the window and saw a balloon in the air. It was shaped like a Meowth's head, and had a basket below. Of course, Team Rocket were just sitting in it, smiling. Tied to it was a large bag, which Ash assumed were the Poke Balls.

There was one problem, though: Without any Pokemon of his own, how could he reach them?


End file.
